According to Watchtutorials.org, the limits of the respective conquests in eastern and southern Spain were fixed by the agreements of Cazola (Cazorla?) And Almizra concluded between Aragon and Castile respectively in 1179 and 1244, for which Murcia and its kingdom were closed to the Aragonese conquest., and therefore also the surviving Muslim monarchy of Grenada. Navarre was the sacrificed; García Ramírez managed to preserve the integrity of the state from the pressure of the neighboring sovereigns; but during the reign of Sancho VII the agreement of Cazola, establishing the Sierra del Moncayo as the borders of Castile and Aragon, closed forever the southern route to Navarre, which could save only Tudela from the hands of Aragon; and in vain Sancho VII moved to the rescue by allying himself with the Muslims, whose help he had asked for by going personally to Morocco: then the domain of Alfonso VIII of Castile and León became Alava (1200), while Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya had long since entered the Castilian sphere of influence. Indeed, Navarre did not lose its independence because in the last years of his life Sancho VII made an agreement with James I of Aragon, by which the two sovereigns mutually committed themselves to recognize each other as heirs of the state. of the other. And if, on the other hand, upon the death of the sovereign, Theobald son of Theobald of Champagne and White sister of the deceased ascended the throne, Navarre withdrew from the political life of Spain and entrusted the protection of its freedom to the discords that separated Aragon and Castile, always in dispute for its possession, and for the protection of the French monarchy, interested in preventing a powerful state from appearing on that dangerous stretch of its border: the end of the disagreements between the two major peninsular states and their even temporary triumph over the French monarchy will coincide with the decline of the independence of its Spanish part.
Finally, as regards the relations between Catalonia united with Aragon and southern France, the period of the greatest Catalan-Aragonese expansion beyond the Pyrenees coincided with the reign of Peter II. Ramón Berenguer IV had already intervened in the affairs of Provence during his nephew’s minor age the end of the disagreements between the two major peninsular states and their even temporary triumph over the French monarchy will coincide with the decline of the independence of its Spanish part. Finally, as regards the relations between Catalonia united with Aragon and southern France, the period of the greatest Catalan-Aragonese expansion beyond the Pyrenees coincided with the reign of Peter II. Ramón Berenguer IV had already intervened in the affairs of Provence during his nephew’s minor age the end of the disagreements between the two major peninsular states and their even temporary triumph over the French monarchy will coincide with the decline of the independence of its Spanish part. Finally, as regards the relations between Catalonia united with Aragon and southern France, the period of the greatest Catalan-Aragonese expansion beyond the Pyrenees coincided with the reign of Peter II. Ramón Berenguer IV had already intervened in the affairs of Provence during his nephew’s minor ageex fratreRamón Berenguer III, who had had that county from his father; renewing the traditional conflict of his family and with the help of various feudatars of southern France and Henry II of England (1159), he had defended him from the attacks of the Count of Toulouse and his allies De Baux, and had succeeded in making him have the investiture of the county by Federico Barbarossa together with that of Arles and Forcalquier. Then, his son Alfonso II had inherited Provence from his cousin, who died at the siege of Nice; supported by the King of England, he had once again repelled the assaults of the Count of Toulouse; and his vassals had become the lords of Bearn (1170), of Bigorra (1175), of Nîmes, of Béziers, of Carcassonne (1179). With Peter II further steps were taken: by marrying Mary of Montpellier he secured the inheritance of his dominions; he was always next to his brother Alfonso who had had Provence from his father; he obtained the friendship of the count of Comminges and ceded the Aran valley to him as a fief (1201); even the Count of Toulouse Raymond VI became his ally and brother-in-law, so that it seemed close to implementing the political unity of the country under the scepter of the Aragonese. But instead the king was overwhelmed by the crusade against the Albigensians; and, after having tried in vain a lasting agreement with Simon of Montfort, he was beaten and killed at Muret on 12 September 1213. His defeat marked the end of the Catalan-Aragonese dominance in southern France, to the benefit of the French monarchy; and the liquidation of the previous imperialism of his state was provided by James I of Aragon, who with the treaty of Corbeil in 1258 ceded all his rights in the region to Louis IX, except Montpellier which he had from his mother. But, in exchange, from the Capetian he had the renunciation of all the rights that he could have boasted over the Catalan counties as the successor of Charlemagne, and then, in confirmation of the treaty, a few years later, he obtained that the French crown prince Philip marry his daughter Isabella. In this way, after centuries of disputes involving the regions of uncertain dominion located on both sides of the Pyrenees, Catalonia began to clearly separate from France. And in this regard it should be added that, not even Alfonso VIII having managed to occupy the Duchy of Gascony, dowry of his wife Leonor Plantageneta (1204-06), the Pyrenean chain also became the border of Castile.
